MaizieD
According to the Financial Times
Alexandra Jones, a government representative on the UKRI board, was involved in writing Donelan’s defamatory letter that she retracted this week as the government paid a £15,000 settlement, according to emails released under transparency laws.
Apparently this was known about at UKRI and it is claimed that Jones involvement was to 'tone down' Donelan's original 'inflammatory' comments. Goodness knows what it would have been like without Jones' intervention. As it was, according to the Guardian,
On 28 October, Michelle Donelan, the secretary of state for science, published a letter expressing her “disgust and outrage” that two academics who had been appointed to an advisory group had been “sharing some extremist views on social media”.
'Disgust and outrage'
'Disgust and outrage'
Takes me back to the 50s and those letters of incensed moral outrage that allegedly appeared in The Times and the now defunct Tunbridge Wells Advertiser, by the eponymous and acclaimed Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells.
But, on a more serious note, the definition of "extremism" seems to be in the eye of the beholder these days.
For example, if you criticise the current government - some (on here) will automatically assume you are a Left-Wing-Extremist-in-the-making... and most certainly, by default, you must be at least a Leftie.
At the same time, some Tories are described as Right-Wing Extremists when any research will show that they are rigid in their belief, rather than extreme.
However, there is a definite trajectory towards very Right-Wingery-Conservatism... but is it 'extremism'?
Some thought Corbyn an extremist - my friends in Norway just thought he was run-of-the-mill Left-Wing (because they are keen to learn English they take an interest in our media, both entertainment and news related).
There's one poster on here (I mean on GN not actually on here today - yet) who has on more than one occasion called me a Left-Wing Extremist. And that, I am most definitely not. But, espouse a particular view and that's it - you're pigeon-holed.
I wish we knew the content of those two academics' posts - we've only got Donelan's POV. And she's part of a Right-Wing 'think tank' apparently, so not exactly an impartial judge.